Creative Addicition - Artist Daniel Brown
To impressionist artist, Daniel Brown, being true to himself just clicked. And that’s why he creates.
“The desire to make art is more of an addiction than a gift,” Brown explains.
Originally from Downs, Illinois, Brown grew up around cars. His grandfather owned and operated a local garage and his father worked in a nearby factory.
“In the evening and on the weekends, I would often beg my father to go for rides in his 1965 Chevelle convertible,” he remembers. “This was the first car that I ever fell in love with. The second one was when I was around ten, and [it] came in the form of a 1935 Chevy sedan.”
Brown’s artistic skill was set in motion with drawings he would create of cars in the garage. He went on to study first at Hesston College in Kansas, where he met his wife, and later at Goshen College in Indiana. He originally started out as a business major, but admits to failing all his classes and taking up art.
“I guess [art] was pretty much decided for me,” Brown jokes.
During his studies, the artist developed his technique through figure drawing.
“Drawing from a figure meant that you had to work quickly,” he says. “I began to really appreciate the expressive quality of the line. It didn’t always matter what the subject was. I found interest in the line and technique of creating the form. But even though I was developing my technique, I was still struggling with “what” I was painting. I thought real artists painted flowers and lighthouses or personal affliction and social issues. It wasn’t until a talk with feminist artist, Miriam Shapiro, that I realized how wrong I was.”
He goes on to explain how Shapiro assured him he would eventually find a direction in art. She also told Brown that he didn’t need to find affliction, or try and take on one that wasn’t his own to begin with. And that’s what pushed the artist to revert to what made his heart tick when he first saw that 1965 Chevelle convertible.
“I paint cars, plain and simple,” he says. “The ironic part is that I really don’t care that much about the image. Some people only look at image, while others enjoy the technique. I am more of a technique person. Simplifying the image allows me to focus more on my approach with the paint. For me, it’s important to leave the understanding that technique still matters, and that art is more than an image.”
Focusing more on technique makes Brown’s work more approachable, fresh and passionate. It’s as if each piece encompasses both figurative and literal styles with every stroke of his powerful brush.
With this original impressionistic style, Brown conveys feelings about his subject through the light and color in his work. Fantasy and imagination are added to his technique and vitality is brought to the works of art.
Take “Cali ’54,” for example. The artist’s passion for the subject is evident. And with a clever eye, Brown leaves behind a positive, bright and creative visual that is lively.
The aesthetic resolution of the painter’s work shows off his desire to create. He explains his creative process as “a sense of urgency.”
“I hate a blank canvas,” Brown admits. “I paint like I do body work— really fast. Art only has to give an impression, and the quickness is what gives the expressiveness to the brushwork.”
All his art work proves that the artist’s eye is drawn to the iconic and renders a modern impressionistic design. There is a fairly straightforward quality to Brown’s work that is distinctive and communicative through pieces like “Decline.”
But the artists’ focus will forever be on his technique, an undeniable and forthcoming fact that is not complex or introspective, but in fact, true.
- Catch up with Daniel Brown’s latest work on July 18 at 7 pm at the HOWL Gallery/Tattoo, located at 1514 Broadway in Downtown Fort Myers, FL!
Originally published July 2009 in Gulf Coast Times
http://www.gulfcoasttimes.net/artssmartseditpage1.html
